This week-long Socially Responsive Design (SRVD) project with the first year MA Design students at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, used design research and metadesign tools to initiate a research project on potential meeting-spaces for local inhabitants at Romsås in Oslo. Through a series of presentations and workshops we challenged the students to question their assumptions on diversity and to develop their roles as designers beyond their traditional expertise.

Anette participated on an arts based research project as a creative catalyser with the Aspire Trust for a secondary school in Merseyside. Using participative research methods, the pupils became researchers alongside the ‘experts’. The aim was to capture a reflection on how creativity is perceived in the school’s learning environments and subject matters to help staff develop and enhance their practice as educators.

Every year the current students on the MA Design Futures at Goldsmiths, University of London, present their developing ideas for their dissertations to an audience of professionals. These presentations help them direct their thinking towards their potential readers. This year’s group was diverse in terms of ethnicity and interests and the subjects ranged from Office Design in Iran, to Sustainable Storytelling. One really interesting project was by Ivan Nascimento’s, who works as a graphic designer for the charity Cafod. His research highlights an interesting shift in visual communication where corporations and NGO’s are competing for attention and becoming uncannily similar. This links up to our recent findings in Swedish media.(link)

Research Teaching What's up Workshops Consultancy What's up What's up Talks What's up Workshops :Is Green the new Black?

London College of Fashion, UK, 30. April, 2007

We were commissioned to hold a talk and a workshop for 50 Staff and fashion students on ‘sustainable fashion futures’ during London College of Fashion’s “Green is the New Black” – a week of awareness-raising on fashion and sustainable development. The futures scenario workshop we designed questioned the fashion brand of 2027 spurring values such as craftmanship, heritage, local, sharing, participation, slow fashion and emotional attachment.